Young North Carolina children survive direct twister strike

In this Sunday photo, Ayanna Stevens, 4, center left, and her sister, Amber Stevens, 3, center right, recover at Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, N.C., as their parents Tyronne and Latonya Stevens sit by their side after a tornado destroyed their home in the Brookstead neighborhood on Saturday. A tornado ripped a trail of destruction across parts of northeast Mecklenburg and southern Cabarrus counties early Saturday morning, damaging nearly 90 homes and leaving three people injured.

Snow falls on West Liberty, Ky., Monday, March 5, 2012, as the town of 3,400 prepares to clean up from Friday's devastating tornado. Forecasters say the tornado that hit West Liberty was on the ground for about 60 continuous miles in eastern Kentucky. (AP Photo/John Flavell)

David Elliot of the City of West Liberty Gas Co., removes the gas meter form the remains of the home of Earl Kinner of the Courier Publishing Company in West Liberty, Ky. Monday, March 5, 2012. (AP Photo/The Courier-Journal, James Crisp) NO SALES; MAGS OUT; NO ARCHIVE; MANDATORY CREDIT

Harrison residents work to salvage from their residences on Monday, March 5, 2012, after an F-3 Tornado touched down in the waterfront Chattanooga, Tenn., suburb on Friday, March 2. (AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press, Dan Henry)

Karen Simmons, of Harvest, sits next to a fire to stay warm with her aunt, Sara Mayo, of New Hope, next to Simmons' trailer which was tossed off it's foundation by Friday's tornado, Monday March 5, 2012 in Harvest, Ala. (AP Photo/The Huntsville Times, Eric Schultz)

A car sits upside down next to a demolished house on Monday, March 5, 2012 in the Johnson County community of Denver, Ky. Residents are still cleaning up debris while crews work to restore power in the community after Friday's storms. (AP Photo/Lexington Herald-Leader, David Perry

Harrison residents work to salvage from their residences on Monday, March 5, 2012, after an F-3 Tornado touched down in the waterfront Chattanooga, Tenn., suburb on Friday, March 2. (AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press, Dan Henry)

Harrison residents work to gather their belongings Monday, March 5, 2012, after an F-3 Tornado touched down in the waterfront Chattanooga, Tenn., suburb on Friday, March 2. (AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press, Dan Henry)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When Latonya Stevens heard thunder and lightning in the distance, she knew the drill. Every time a storm drew near, her children would run to her room seeking comfort.

So Stevens turned on a hall light for the young kids as high winds began buffeting the house. Then she blacked out and awoke to find only one of the four children in sight and the house ripped apart.

She quickly assumed the worst: that a twister had carried off the other three kids.

“I was screaming for them,” Stevens said Monday. “I was panicking. For a moment, I didn’t know where they were.”

No one knows precisely what happened, but this much is clear. The three children were in their rooms when the tornado approached. As the winds rose, most of the home’s second floor was swept away. After the storm passed, the kids were found outside on the ground, one of them 100 feet away along a major highway.

All three emerged with only cuts and bruises — and a story to tell for the rest of their lives.

Most of the family’s possessions were lost. But by Monday, the children were playing in their grandparents’ house if nothing had happened.

The children — 3-year-old Amber, 4-year-old Ayanna and 7-year-old Jamal — said they don’t recall anything.

“They’re like me. They don’t remember what happened,” Stevens said. “We don’t know. Maybe it will come back to us eventually. I mean, I’ve sat down and tried to figure out what happened. I don’t know,” she said softly.

When storms moved into the Charlotte area late Friday, the four children were upstairs in their bedrooms. Their grandmother, Patricia Stevens, was watching TV downstairs on a couch. Their father, Tyrone Stevens, was out with friends who were in town for a basketball tournament.

The noise awoke the children, who initially went to their mother’s room where they watched a Disney movie. When the storm died down, they returned to their beds.

But a half-hour later, Stevens heard a new storm approaching and got up to take care of the children. As she turned on the hall light, the house began to shake and the wind started to howl.

Then she lost consciousness.

Stevens awoke in the dark holding the other 3-year-old twin, Ashley, and shouting for her children. The roof was gone. Only then did she realize that her house had been struck by a tornado.

She hurried downstairs in the dark, screaming “Where’s my babies,” and spotted her mother who also was frantic.

Stevens handed Ashley to the girl’s grandmother while she started searching outside for her children. Neighbors began searching, too.

Sheena Redfearn and her husband, Chris, heard Stevens shouting from four doors down the street.

After the couple was sure their own children were safe, Chris Redfearn bolted outside with a flashlight and began following Jamal’s voice, leaping over fences in the search for the boy.

Amber was found in the family yard under some debris. Ayanna landed in a neighbor’s yard. Jamal had been tossed more than 100 feet.

The children were rushed to the hospital. Tyrone Stevens, who was contacted by family, headed to the hospital, too.

When he returned to his house the next day, he couldn’t believe what had happened.

“Just looking at it, it just shook me to my core,” he said. “I was devastated. Thank God everyone is OK.”

The stories bring to mind a Tennessee boy who was thrown into a muddy field northeast of Nashville during a Feb. 5, 2008, tornado that killed his mother. Then just a year old, Kyson Stowell-Noble, was found face-down in a rural field strewn with splintered lumber, couches and toys. He was about 100 yards from his mother, who was one of 59 people killed when a string of tornadoes slammed five Southern states.

Kyson needed just two days of hospital treatment for scrapes and a collapsed lung.

Now when bad weather approaches, Kyson likes to go outside. He even did so during the epic storms Friday that killed 40 people across the Midwest and South.

“He put on his clothes and went outside to see what was going on,” his grandmother, Kay Stowell, said by telephone Monday.

Meanwhile, the Stevens family said they would love to rebuild in the same neighborhood.

“My neighbors were there for me, and those are the kind of people I want to be around,” Latonya Stevens said. “It’s a big family.”

But first the family must confront the trauma of the storm.

“Every time I close my eyes, I still see it,” she said. “I haven’t had time to deal with it. I sleep on and off. I’m more worried about the kids and how they’re feeling.”